iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

The algorithm knows no mercy. All I did was google 'what does 6-7 mean?'.

Ad for walking shoes for elderly people with poor balance, 60% off.

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Me: I should start a podcast. The universe:

Five portable red traffic lights lined up in a row on a London pavement, all showing red, in front of a terrace of Victorian brick houses.

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

🥁🎉The Psychosis Collective proudly presents our first preprint 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐳𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐬-𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝘈 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 starring Le He & Harriet Feldman www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... We wanted to understand how antipsychotics work. Thread🧵

Graphical abstract showing that NMDAR immunisation drives psychosis-like behaviour in mice, while clozapine reverses this. Upper panel: arrows show NMDAR immunisation producing a mouse exhibiting psychosis-like behaviour, with clozapine reversing this effect. Lower panels: anti-NMDAR antibodies bind neuronal NMDA receptors, which are then eliminated by microglia via phagocytosis, leading to psychosis. Clozapine restores NMDA receptor levels by reducing anti-NMDAR antibody levels, consistent with an immunomodulatory mechanism of action.

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Multilingual parenting theory: OPOL – one person, one language. Multilingual parenting reality: OSTL – one Satz, tres languages.

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Glad to read in the Guardian today that some German concepts central to indoor wellbeing are becoming more widely appreciated 😅 Read on for a short glossary on indoor climate for those living with people raised in Germany

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

Last experiment before submission? 🤞

Photo of a basketball hoop in a gym with several balls stuck in the net and one ball mid-air above it, as players watch the hoop.

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

I was so busy conferencing that I only took one photo on arrival! Wonderful to see old friends, make new ones, and talk bottomless science. My goal for ACNP 2027: make it onto the @ahmarilab.bsky.social #fashionsOfAcnp feed 😀 #acnp2026 @acnporg.bsky.social

Wide view of a coastal resort at dusk, with palm trees, illuminated pools and walkways in the foreground, and the ocean stretching across the horizon under a fading blue sky.

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Lab member: can I show you some data? Me, 9am: YES Me, 8pm: YES Me, 3am: YES Me, while undergoing surgery: YES

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

For anyone who made it through the “Everything was better back then” moments of the holiday season: Reward sensitivity declines with age. That might explain why apples tasted like apples, music felt real, and TV was just better.

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Images were processed in accordance with journal guidelines.

Side-by-side photographs of the Ecce Homo mural before and after restoration, showing substantial changes to facial features and overall appearance.

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

LinkedIn got my thoughtful 2025 year-in-review reflection. Bluesky gets the stupidest thing I did in 2022: Booking travel to a conference in Maine, happily thinking “Cool, there’s a direct flight from London to Portland.”

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Reposted by Katharina Schmack

Chunyu Ann Duan @annduan.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

New preprint from the lab! A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... We use a novel task in mice, cortex-wide imaging and optogenetics, NPX recording and modelling to reveal a circuit mechanism that transforms abstract decisions to spatial actions.

biorxiv.org

A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions

Flexible behaviour requires transforming abstract cognitive representations, such as value preferences, into concrete motor actions. During economic decision-making, individuals evaluate options to gu...

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Ready for a crash course in psychosis? My recent public lecture is now on YouTube! I explain what psychosis is, what we are doing about it in the lab, and what the future may hold. Watch & share👇 youtu.be/EUb3_5ecatU

youtu.be

A Crash Course in Psychosis – with Katharina Schmack

YouTube video by The Francis Crick Institute

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

I somewhere heard the term #Bayesplaining 😂 I confess: guilty as charged. Exhibit A: my slide.

A slide titled “Summary Hallucination-Like Perception (HALIP)” with four bullet points on the right: “HALIP increases after hallucinogenic manipulations in mice,” “HALIP correlates with hallucinations in humans,” “Striatal dopamine causally mediates HALIP,” and “Expectations link striatal dopamine and HALIP.” On the left are four icons illustrating each point: a mouse hearing a sound, a human wearing headphones, a dopamine D2 receptor graphic, and a schematic of Bayesian inference with overlapping prior and likelihood curves. A large magenta arrow points toward the Bayesian schematic.

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

One great thing about having kids: you do all the fun things you would never do otherwise – and your body immediately reminds you why 😅 Still, the 45-second slide ride down this #London sculpture tower, the ArcelorMittal Orbit, was absolutely worth the stiff neck!

A view of the ArcelorMittal Orbit in London, a tall red looping steel sculpture with a long enclosed slide spiralling around it. The photo is taken from street level with a tree in the foreground and a cloudy sky in the background.

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

What would Francis Crick make of this? I really enjoyed being part of this conversation on consciousness with @anilseth.bsky.social @stevefleming.bsky.social @cosmicskeptic.bsky.social, hosted by @profbriancox.bsky.social. Listen now!

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

How often have you heard that schizophrenia is “80% genetic”? That number is almost certainly too high because it comes from twin studies that overestimate heritabilty. Great explainer of this phenomenon👇 #neuroskyence #neuroscience #psychiatry

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Introducing the 𝐏𝐈-𝐚𝐭-𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞! 🤯 When activated, it will auto-reply to your PI's frantic ideas for new experiments, analyses, and projects with "Great suggestion! Saving this for later" (aka: let's talk when you’re back and got some sleep) #sfn2025 #sfn25

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Genius workspace, then and now. (Neither my desk nor my desktop look like this. Draw your own conclusions 😅)

Split image with upper half showing Einstein on his famously messy desk covered in papers and lower half showing a screenshot from a modern computer packed with dozens of open browser tabs.

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

“She [Rosalind Franklin] would have thought of herself simply as a scientist whose achievements should have been judged on their own terms, not as a ‘woman scientist’ striking a blow for the rights of women.” #notAWomanScientist (1/n)

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

He: You spent money on an AIR PURIFIER? Me: [erupting into a 15-minute talk on air pollution in cancer and dementia, confidently citing studies I once skimmed] He: You really should be in sales. Me: That's half my job, using vague recollections of science to convince people to fund more science.

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Tony Zador @tonyzador.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Apply to become a CSHL-Simons Fellow in Neuroscience! Run your own lab, pursue bold ideas, join a highly collaborative community! All areas including experimental or computational neuro, including NeuroAI & systems PhD required; ≤~1 yr postdoc www.cshl.edu/about-us/car...

cshl.edu

Fellows Positions | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

CSHL Simons Fellow in NEUROSCIENCE Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) is seeking to fill a Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Fellow position in the area of NEUROSCIENCE (experimental and/or computationa...

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

1/7 I could be Katharina Rubi. So, why am I still Katharina Schmack-(suppressed giggles)-can-you-spell-that for me? Here’s a story about a dopamine-degrading enzyme that fell out of fashion. 🧵

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Cycling through London and something tells me many wishes will come true 🪔

A warmly lit vintage shop called Aladdin’s on a quiet London street at dusk, its windows glowing with golden lamps under a soft evening sky.

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Yes, I’m of a certain age, but would it kill the supermarket self-checkout worker to at least hesitate for a second before pressing “visibly over 25”? #foreverYoung

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Everything I say in this video is true! Join us to start your lab at the Crick – Europe’s largest indoor playground for scientists 👩‍🔬👨‍🔬!

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Reposted by Katharina Schmack

Oded Rechavi @odedrechavi.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Good point! Let’s revive the tradition: if you recently read an interesting paper (doesn’t matter which field) please share!! #FridayPaperClub

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

Scenes from our lab Slack channel: “Ugh… that’s disappointing.” “Wait, let me check.” “Hold on, something’s funny…” “WHAT?!” “Ohhh… that’s actually interesting.” “Back to the analysis we go…” “No way… THE EXPERIMENT WORKED!” I love this team! The rollercoaster of science never gets old! 😍🔬

media.tenor.com

two elderly women are riding a roller coaster together and one is covering her face .

Alt: two elderly women are riding a roller coaster together and one is covering her face .

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Reposted by Katharina Schmack

Bita Moghaddam @bita137.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

Don't miss this if you are going to #SfN2025 and interested in cross-species psychedelic neuroscience research Looking forward to hearing the talks and the discussions, and excited about presenting some of the lab's unpublished data and how we are thinking about future research

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Psychosis is fascinating - and its impact can be devastating. Excited to share what we are doing in our lab @crick.ac.uk to change that 🧠🧪🥼 Drop by if you are curious! Free talk, everybody is welcome 👇

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Ardem Patapoutian @ardemp.bskyverified.social · 14/10/2025

During these uncertain times, I’m very happy to see that my institution, @scripps.edu has an open tenure-track Assistant Professor position. Any field in Chemistry or Biology is welcome. I’d especially love to see fellow neuroscientists apply. Please repost! apply.interfolio.com/174756

apply.interfolio.com

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Dear Student, It has been wonderful to see you grow from a lab novice into a thoughtful experimentalist. The results you have generated rob me of sleep because I am so excited thinking about the potential that lies in them. Science can be exhilarating! (1/4)

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

📢 Join us at the Crick to start your lab! 💸 Generous core funding to give your ideas wings 🔬 Outstanding facilities to realise your nerdiest dreams 🙌 Supportive colleagues who lift you and your science up Happy to answer questions! Please repost!

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Reposted by Katharina Schmack

Ardem Patapoutian @ardemp.bskyverified.social · 07/10/2025

Attending #SfN2025 in San Diego☀️? Don’t miss the Dorris Neuroscience Center Symposium at @scripps.edu, happening right before the meeting. A great lineup of speakers to kick off your SfN week. Plan your trip accordingly and register for free here: www.eventbrite.com/e/dorris-neu... Please amplify!

eventbrite.com

Dorris Neuroscience Center Symposium 2025

A full-day symposium with 14 guest speakers from around the world.

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Reposted by Katharina Schmack

Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

Fascinating thread about the identification of one of the first genes with a clear role in human speech and language! Extra credit for those who dig in to find out why its called a "forkhead domain" 🧪

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Excited to speak in San Diego on Nov 14 at this SfN Sattelite! If you're curious about cross-species approaches to #psychedelics, #hallucinations and #consciousness, join us! 🐀👤🧠 Limited spots, register here: hopkinspsychedelic.org/sfn2025

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

Really enjoyed my weekend read on 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: local recurrence amplifies natural input patterns and suppresses stray activity. This review beautifully argues that sensory cortex itself is a site of memory and prediction. Food for thought on hallucinations! #neuroskyence #neuroscience

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

The true peer review signature: “Overall, this is a great study, but the authors forgot to relate it to previous literature (Reviewer et al. 2008, 2013a, 2013b, 2015, 2018, 2021, 2022).” 🙃 #academsky

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

This is how I thought the headline would continue:

Dr. Seuss with white hair, beard, and glasses smiling outdoors. Overlaid text in white reads: ‘He was rejected 27 times. He planned to burn his manuscript.’ Below, in red text: ‘Then, his friend invited him to contribute to her Frontiers Special Issue.’ The red text appears edited in.

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Wow, this is amazing! Brought to you by science 🧪🧠🧬✨ #neuroskyence

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Great thread that explains why I sometimes dread Q&A after cognitive and systems neuroscience talks. 👇 "You say awareness/perception/imagination. But couldn't it all just be attention/motor preparation/memory?" #neuroskyence

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

1/ This is the first picture I took after arriving in the UK. Why is a tired, grown-up woman posing in an airport hotel room for a selfie with a giant giraffe? Here’s our story 🦒

Me, smiling and thumbs-upping, with a large grinning stuffed giraffe face that takes up half the frame.

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

How does the brain fill in what's missing? Pattern completion pushes visual cortex into "seeing" what is not there. Great to see this out, congrats to the authors on this impressive work! #neuroskyence

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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

Research matters 🧪 by @tomgauld.bsky.social

Cartoon of scientist talking to an administrator who says, "It's all very well making discoveries, saving lives and improving the world, Roger, but your research is making barely any impact on social media."

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

Who cares for inbox zero when you can have laundry basket zero 🧺💪

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Katharina Schmack @kathaschmack.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

"Sleep, like aging, may be an inescapable consequence of aerobic metabolism." Really enjoyed this thought-provoking paper 🧠💤🪰 - congrats to @rafsarnataro.bsky.social and team on this impressive work! No wonder the Krebs cycle always put me to sleep 😅 #neuroskyence

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